Maybe Mauve Dresser

Creatively speaking, I don’t have much to show for myself lately. When the world shut down, many of you found sanctuary in projects while stuck at home. I found myself going to my day job in full PPE. Suddenly I was signing waivers at the door each morning, bruising my nose and breaking out under an N95, getting COVID tested twice a week, limiting my water intake to avoid taking off my mask, wary that a single mistake that could compromise my health or that of those around me.

My 9 to 5 is working with residents at an Assisted Living Facility - a very vulnerable population that I have seen wither under sequestration. My creative bandwidth was eaten up by how to keep spirits up among the residents and how to keep us all safe.

For these reasons, my garage workshop stayed quiet for most of last year (well that and because Caleb turned it into a home gym for a while). My 2020 flip list fell by the wayside with only one project completed and others never tackled or never shared.

I have a lot of hope that this year will be different. I do want to see more pieces unfold on this platform as my time and energy will allow. These projects still bring me great joy and your support and positive response to them are such a source of encouragement for me to keep creating.

I found this gem listed in Facebook as a curb alert. It was free and in the neighborhood so I snapped it up while I was already out running errands.

I was kinda digging its dusty color but the original paint job was a HOT MESS. The body was shellacked with thick drips of high-gloss beige while the top was and unfortunate clash of flat cream from what I can only assume was a bad repair job.

The stripping process revealed several layers of paint that started peeling off like wallpaper - indicative that it wasn’t applied properly in the first place.

This piece had lived at least three other lifetimes as a shabby chic dresser with obvious brush strokes in a white paint finish. Then it did a stint as a vivid aqua/teal dresser. Then it turned into the mauve-meets-beige mess that landed it in my workshop. But that mauve gave me an idea to try something new so I picked up a new color to try.

Now mauve is technically in the purple color family but that scalloped detail was calling for something soft and pretty and reminiscent of Shire’s pink room circa 2018. I browsed my favorite paint line (Behr Marquee) and chose Retro Pink that lands in right the dusty hue range.

The scalloped detail lends itself to a sweet overall look while the dusty pink color still reads mature for all you millennial-pink lovers out there.

Keeping with the original dresser’s look, I painted the tapered legs in the same color as the body.

I did not however, keep the ridiculous pulls from the original dresser. Instead, I filled those holes and drilled new ones for a single gold whistle knob on each side.

Just enough gold to give it a touch of glam.

I had wanted the color to be reminiscent of a dried clay so naturally I had to style with a ceramic touch.

I pulled this trio of ladies from various corners of my house and invited them to come smirk from atop the dresser.

They agreed to make eyes at the dresser’s potential buyers until the right one comes along.

Maybe Mauve Dresser
Now Available for Sale
$545

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

Inky Dresser + Nightstand || Styling with a Tapestry

Sometimes I rather fancy myself a matchmaker of sorts. I like to pair raw pieces with the right refinish and then pair refinished pieces with the right buyer. I’m like the Hitch of furniture if you will. I’ve even been known to take lonely-heart items in my workshop and fix them up together (remember my light fixture family tree for example?).

I didn’t originally plan to pair this dresser and nightstand together, but the longer they sat next to each other in the workshop, the more I realized their clean lines and tapered legs “spoke the same language” as we like to say. Both had debilitating body damage that made paint inevitable. The dresser had some serious scratching and that nightstand - some water damage (did you see the glaring chunk of missing veneer?). So I decided to bring them together in holy refinishing matrimony.

Both pieces were perfect candidates for a coat of “Black Boudoir” by Behr - a favorite inky blue/ black shade that plays well with brass hardware and warm wood tones.

Although their original stains were similar, I sanded both sets of legs down to their skivvies and gave them a buttery wax finish.

Ok so I might be a bit of a one-trick pony. In addition to the repeat color pallet, I also deployed a favorite for the hardware - these Amazon.com brass whistle knobs have made their appearance here and here - oh yeah and here too. But really people - I am who I am *insert shoulder shrug emoji here*

For the styling, I had a fun opportunity to play with a new-to-me product: an oversized tapestry from Tapart - a company that sells modern tapestries by independent artists. The silky quality to the tapestries almost makes it feel more like a vintage scarf than a wall hanging, but they adds an easy punch to any space and have a variety of designs from surreal to graphic, abstract to cheeky matras.

I love to play around with art in our home but sometimes I catch myself craving something with a HUGE impact (just preferably not to my wallet). I mean, how many of you have resorted to hanging a sarong on the dorm room wall for this very reason? Well save your sarong for the beach ladies - you can still keep your wall décor casual with this hanging piece of fabric while simultaneously offering up some upscale visual impact.

It’s no wonder that Tapart and it’s contemporaries at Urban Outfitters and Society6 are now offering tapestries as a simply stylish way to dress your vertical décor space.

What I love most about this company is that each tapestry supports the artist who designed it as an alternative way for them to sell their work.

TapArt is an online marketplace of artists. We handle and market our artist's designs while they focus on what they do best - creating artwork.

thetapart.com

Check out their variety of inventory here and if you see something you like, use the code catestyle-20 to get a 20% discount. Oh! And hit me up if you are interested in these inky newlyweds or would like to here more about our purchase and shipping options.

Inky Dresser + Nightstand
Now Available for Sale
Dresser: 34”W x 19”D x 45.5”H
Nightstand: 24”W x 15”D x 23.5”H
$695 for the set


If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

Man Cave || 2019 Flip List Item No.1

So last Spring, my husband and I were on the hunt for our next lease with a very specific list of must-haves in mind:

• End unit townhouse (less walls to share with noisy neighbors)

• Green space (for Thor and also so Caleb could exercise his supreme lawn skills)

• At least 3 bedrooms (little did we know one of them would become a nursery)

• A garage (a girl’s gotta have her in-home workshop, you feel me?)

• And a MAN CAVE (Caleb’s non-negotiable)

By some miracle, we managed to find something that checked everything off our list - complete with a dungeon-like ground-level media room worthy of Caleb’s video-game playing and sports-game watching needs. The only thing was it was a already painted a very distinctive shade of blue:

“Thalos Blue” to be exact

It’s not that the blue was all that bad. In fact our landlord would have let us paint it if we really wanted, but after giving a fresh coat of paint to the other 80% of the house, we kind of ran out of steam. We decided that the color was workable even though I would have chosen a more masculine navy than a cornflower blue for a media room.

Caleb immediately took up residence down here and I set to work on the rest of the house (you can see our progress here and here). In exchange for giving me practically 100% design control of the upper 2 floors of the townhouse, Caleb asked that I limit my… interference… in his sacred basement space. I admit, this was very hard for me to do and I definitely snuck a few decorative items in there every once in a while. He did allow my expertise however to source a comfy sectional. I scoured Craigslist until I found an affordable leather one that was perfect for lengthy lounging and felt manly but still stylish enough for me to tolerate (I mean I have to watch movies down here too ya know ;).

But after a couple months, Caleb came to me with a surprising request to… interfere… with this space after all. See Caleb and I have often disagreed on form vs function when it comes to a space - meaning I like things “pretty” and he likes things “comfortable.” We’ve found little ways to compromise throughout the house but he was very resistant to my initial input on his man space. Me thinks he just wanted a place to set up shop without making any concessions for once. Hence my surprise when he actually approached me about making it feel a little more homey and how this item ended up on the 2019 Furniture Flip Bucket List.

Challenge Accepted

The plan was to use the blue to our advantage and make it as a backdrop for some rich colorful accents coupled with some touches brass to mature the space a bit.

The sectional was working out well, but I switched out the boxy man legs for some sexier gams to give the couch a more high-end look.

Legs Before

Low profile + a little frumpy

Legs After

Glam gams = soooo classy

Next we had to figure out what curtains to hang in a true blue room? I tried white for a bit but the contrast was too stark.  I could do red but I didn’t want to take away from all the pops of red I was adding elsewhere.  Eventually I landed on a blue to match the walls.  In a velvet no less to add texture and black-out any light on movie nights.

Finding the right TV stand was another fun project.  First we had to source one large enough for our monster TV (almost kept this guy for that very reason).  But we found a deal on this MCM credenza with minimal wear and tear.  I waterfalled the outer edges in a persimmon paint color for another fun by subtle pop.

My alternative coffee tables did get a little push-back from Caleb the Client. Instead of doing one large table, I found two brass martini side tables a varied heights. It’s not his favorite design concept (a coffee table should be more of a foot rest according to Caleb), but it allows us a classy take on TV trays when we are eating down there (which is basically on every movie night). 

Behind the couch is a small-space bar area when we want to get our Mad Men on.

Extra lighting sits on a narrow storage piece that flanks the back of the couch. We keep our small LP collection and record player on the shelves underneath.

A few of our records hang on the wall to make a “man art” moment. They can easily be switched out for a sports poster or two if the mood strikes.

Now this space has the family’s full stamp of approval - Thor included. 

And I’m crossing this project off this year’s list!

Two down, three to go. Catch up on the 2019 Furniture Flip Bucket List.